Since it's a brand spanking new year, 2009, why don't we have everybody post a quick "hello" and introduction. Many of us have gotten to know each other over a fairly long period of time here on the Hypnos Forum and its various predecessor incarnations, but many people lurking or posting here may not know all the characters here.

Please try to keep this topic to personal introductions, and if everyone can behave and stay on topic, I'll "sticky" this topic so new visitors can benefit from it.

I'm Mike Griffin, founder of Hypnos Recordings (the record label that is the whole point for the www.hypnos.com web site and thus this Hypnos Forum) in 1996 or so. I'm also a recording artist on the label, with a handful of solo recordings, plus 2 collaborative releases with Dave Fulton, 1 with A Produce, 2 with David Tollefson (as Viridian Sun).

I live in Portland, Oregon, USA, in a house with a nifty view of a big, green hillside of trees. I'm 43 years old. I live with my fantastic wife Lena, who runs the Hypnos office and mail order operation while I am away slaving at my day job.

I'm Mirko, and I'm going to New Zealand for a holiday in about 1 hr, so I'll try to be quick.

I live in Brisbane, Australia. I write music, mostly ambient under the name Deepspace. You may find many slightly, erm, argumentative yet ultimately overly-polite posts on this forum from me. I am 36 years old and have a wonderful wife by the name of Kim Wilkins, who is a rather successful writer. But I'm getting back at her this year, because Hypnos just released one of my albums. So nyaah to her. I also have a beautiful boy called Luka, who is 6 and a darling little feisty girl called Astrid, who is 2 and wears black gumboots with skulls on them.

Hi, I'm Anthony Paul Kerby (APK) and I live in Ontario, Canada, but was born and raised in southern England (and miss it). I'm married and have a wonderful daughter called Angela.

I run the DataObscura record label and have released quite a few albums under 3 names: The Circular Ruins, Lammergeyer, and Nunc Stans. Plus some collaborations.

Last real job was teaching philosophy. But now I spend most of my time playing keyboards, messing with gear, listening to music, hanging out on the Hypnos board, thinking, cooking, field-recording, drinking wine, and birdwatching/hiking when the weather is good. And I'm older than Mike Griffin.

Hi - Scott M2 is an abbreviation of Scott McGregor Moore. I'm also from Ontario - born here in Toronto and returned in the 80s.I've been seriously into electronic music all my life and began to create ambient music in 95 and performing it live since 97.

In the last two years I've expanded my ambient obsessions into exploring ambient visuals: photography, films & installations.This year is off to a good start with a small video installation running through January, my first DVD Single released this weekendand a DVD Album very close to completion. This is exciting for me not just for the visuals, but the chance to release music in surround sound. Space... another frontier.

I've also been curating THE AMBiENT PiNG live series here in Toronto since 2000 with Jamie Todd - my partner in dreamSTATE,our main ambient project. Though I've been creating ambient for over a decade it always feels like I'm just getting started. Every pebble is a world.

My girl is Lynn Harrigan - a poet and teacher who has recently become a fiber artist - where she's found her deepest artistic obsession.We were introduced by a mutual friend to see if dreamSTATE would be interested in creating soundscapes for her multimedia installationin a historic gaol. Very soon we were a couple. We have several wordsoundart projects in development together.A dog named Charlie completes our family.

Bill Binkelman

Bill Binkelman, 54, music reviewer of ambient/electronic/new age/etc. music since 1997. Currently reviewing for own site (the lethargic barely on life support Wind and Wire), website New Age Reporter, and just recently joined the staff of two hard copy magazines, New Age Retailer and Inspired Retailer as their new music columnist (finally, after 11 years, a paying gig!).

In real life, I'm the license certification officer for Hamline University's School of Education in St. Paul, MN. Have been partnered with Kathryn Heinze, a professor in the School of Education's Center for Second Language Teaching and Learning, since 1996. We are both divorced, no kids, unless you count our beloved lab-mix, Mamie, who we consider our daughter. Live in a small modest 1920s era house on the SE side of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Other interests besides music include NFL football (avid Green Bay Packer fan), cooking (my specialties are my seafood dishes), science fiction and fantasy film, home repair/restoration (when I have time), and single malt scotch (I'm probably the Forum's resident lush).

Got my love of music from my mother who slipped this earthly plane in 1990. Have a deserved repuation as a hot-headed curmudgeonly opinionated know-it-all....humph, it's a living. I drink too much, don't get enough exercise, flirt shamelessly, have committed every cardinal sin known to man in my mind (as an ex-Catholic, I was educated to believe if you THOUGHT something, it was as bad as doing it), and, finally, I yearn desperately for a three-way with Anne Hathaway and Anna Pacquin and would sell my soul, provided I still have one, to make it happen.

Harry Dibrell, 57, been fooling around with electronic music since about 1972. Have never released anything, because I seldom finish anything. I was raised all over the world, being from a military family and was heavily influenced by my early years in Japan ( late '50's to early '60's ). I currently live in San Antonio, Texas where the life style is slow and the Mexican food is great. I work for a veterinary lab testing company. I like ethnic foods and Shiner Bock beer and love to sit out in my backyard for hours at a time and barbecue and listen to the sounds that surround me. Kathy, my wife of 26 years , somehow is able to tolerate me and put up with my bizarre tastes in music and everything else. Go figure . It can't be easy having to deal with a 57 year old adolescent. P.S. I have a Texas terrier named Sparky who is only part mutt.

Forrest Houle, 42 (not to be confused with Forrest Fang). I live in a log home out in the woods, in the foothills of the Selkirk Mountains in northeast Washington State. Married 15 years, with two big crazy dogs to keep us company. I've recorded and released some stuff as SunDummy (and a few other aliases as well); I'm currently just playing guitar for my own enjoyment. I have a ton of recordings in my head, I just can't be bothered to actually take the time to bring them to fruition. I started down the ambient path in college, when I bought Jeff Grienke's :Cities in Fog" LP on a whim. I was enthralled, and have been interested in 'strange' music ever since.

I work at home, as the CFO of a medical recruiting company and the bookkeeper of a law firm. It's pretty ideal, although I do find myself working much more, since my office is right here in the den.

I like free-heel skiing, road cycling, camping, hiking in the mountains, reading about physics, history and anthropology, and sitting on my front porch enjoying the silence.

« Last Edit: March 12, 2012, 10:59:37 AM by SunDummy »

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I wish I was a Glowworm; a Glowworm's never glum. 'Cause how can you be grumpy, when the sun shines out your bum?

Hi, Brian Bieniowski, Sagittarius. I'm thirty-two (joined the Forum when I was twenty-four), and a professional editor and semi-professional writer. I'm currently managing editor of Asimov's Science Fiction. I'm an avid fan of ambient music (duh), scuba diving, the swimming portion of triathlon, primitive photography (that is to say I suck at it), and I collect vintage paperbacks. I wish I had a dog, but I have kept a pet tarantula instead for around eleven years. I do not make any music.

I've been married to my wife Bianca for five years (been together for about twelve), who works at Random House publishing. We have a little house in suburban New Jersey, but dream about a day when we can both cork off from NYC rat racing and live on the West Coast, like the rest of the cool kids.

I run the Quiet Sounds Podcast (just got a nice nod on some public-radio related blog this weekend) and also the Aloof Proof unofficial information site for which there are links to both in my sig.

Hi. I am Martin Fuhs, recording under the alias "Seconds in Formaldehyde".21 Years old, resident in Germany (near Erfurt). Also the head behind theWaterscape Records Label which was started in 2007. Released 3 Full LengthAlbums so far (fourth is finished and get a Vinyl treatment in March/April).

If i would have the possibility to take back some time, i would have probablyreleased zero albums till today. Most of my current albums are just based onguitar droning ambient soundscapes. Many People told me that they are verygood and that people feel the emotion i have put into this music, but my fourthalbum is a kind of restart for me and my music. Kind of leaning a bit away fromthis Drone Stuff going into a different Direction. Still a bit drone but also mixedwith "Love Noise" (the kind of noise i do, cause its warm and comfortable) andother Sounds.

I do have 2 Cats and i really adore them. Like to play football and from timeto time i do like some Video Games.

I am Darren Rogers a new age/ambient music composer. Having released, The Alternate Realms on Hypnos Secret Sounds records, wooo hooo!!.....I am single, looking for Mrs. Right:).....working on other projects right now including doing online video game music.I am a Computer IT tech support person during the day, but at night depending on how I feel or how work went, I play video games, compose music. Love to read a lot when I can.Got some new ideas going for this year, some video projects and maybe even a new album...

Hi, I'm Jez Creek, just turned 40. I live and work as a public servant in Nottingham in the UK.

I'm a relative newcomer to ambient/drone music, though I've been into synth music for as long as I can remember, and in the last few years discovered and got heavily into the 90's and onwards Berlin School stuff ,after years of being into prog/rock stuff, and one day decided I liked the ambient spacey interludes as much as the more sequencey bits.

I accidentally discovered I liked droney stuff when experimenting with lots of timestretch

I like making/performing improvised electronic and ambient/drone stuff solo as Modulator ESP and with other people as Astrogator and Cerberus.

I like live ambient electronic music so much I took over organising the Awakenings live ambient/electronic events

Recently I'm starting to get into even more weird and experimental stuff too

Wayne Higgins, 50. Married Carol 13 years ago, she had a son David (11), I adopted him, he is getting married May 23. Carol and I have a house on 5 acres in the woods in North Florida, her mother lives with us. She is 83 and from Italy. We have 3 dogs(Cleo[Chow], Won Li[Pug], and Ringo[?-BIG], 3 cats(Sparky, Sammy and Gatina) and 2 goats[Nigerian Dwarfs]. I work for a nice group of people in an environmental laboratory in Thomasville, GA where I daily perform the boring tasks which make up my occupation as an inorganic analytical chemist. I graduated from Florida State University in 1991, degree in Food and Nutrition Science.

Music background: played guitar very badly until I was 20. I took a music theory class at FSU and it all made sense. Learned about 300 songs in one sememster. (So much for school. First time there was in the late 70's, 3 years and never picked a major, so I dropped out for 8 years.) Also, in my first stint at FSU, I took an electronic music class, which was a formal study of tape machines and Moog synthesizers, they had an enormous Moog 900 series, and a few reel-to-reels. I moved to Texas to play with a band after I dropped out and nothing ever materialized. (What a suprise!) When I returned to Tallahassee for school, I joined my first real band, Gothic Playground. A very fun thrash punk band that occupied most of my time for two years, played numerous gigs and did an album independently on vinyl. I played in a number of bands until a few years ago(always playing bass, BTW). I got a sitar and took lessons for a year from a classical musician(sitar and tabla) from India. I would have probably continued the schooling, but personal situations prevailed and I quit. After a couple of years getting things back together, I decided not to continue but did decide to begin making music I wanted to make.

All of the music I make is using an electric guitar and a few effects, recorded on computer. I started up the whole Oenyaw thing about three years ago. There are 14 finished MP3 discs, approximately 80 hours of music. It has been considerably unsuccessful and I am considering ditching the whole thing and starting over. The idea of Oenyaw will remain, the music will not change, but the Oenyaw name will go away as will the legal and internet expenses. It's become the monkey on my back, as well as a silly way of presenting myself. Wayne Higgins solo performer needs to become Wayne Higgins. There I said it!

If any one wishes to add or send me advise or solicit me for music, feel free to contact me.

I live a few miles away from the North York Moors in Blighty with my partner Denise and my hound Maxa. I've left the 'real world' behind, in a sense.

I'm able to work on my music full-time at the moment. I work VERY slowly, I wish I could get more material finished sometimes, but I just keep at it. I think tenacity is a much undervalued quality.

I try to create music that is unique (in as much as anything can be, realistically). I very much believe in the value of ambient music - of what it can do for people. I'm not interested in what I consider to be 'ambient muzak'.

i am jim brenholts. i'm 52 (53 in march) and live in the pittsburgh area. i have two amazing grandsons and i am a huge fan of lots of electronic, ambient, most new age and some esoteric music. i have been reviewing music for about 10 or 11 years and i have been creating it for a little over 5 years - but i do not consider myself a musician.in real life i am a drug and alcohol therapist/case manager. i evaluate addicted clients with no insurance or means of paying for treatment and refer for a level of care and help arrange funding.

Hello, I'm Joe Rygwelski. I'm 49 (gasp!) years old, and have a wonderful wife named Carol (a dental hygienist), and two children. Sarah is 19, and is studying to be a nutritionist. Anthony is 8, and seems permanently attached to our wii. I work at a utility company in mid-Michigan, installing underground gas lines.

I've always been obsessed with music, and discovered ambient music about 10 years ago. But I still love music from my youth- Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan, The Clash, The Stones, The Stooges, Johnny Cash, Gang Of Four, Pink Floyd, etc. I love to do surrealistic paintings, though I rarely have the free time anymore... or perhaps I'm no longer disciplined enough to MAKE the time. So now I have a million strange paintings in my head just dying to bust out.

I am passionate about fishing and camping, canoeing, hiking, etc. Also passionate about good strong beers --pale ales and amber ales being my favorites.

I love watching sports, especially hockey and football. I watch as many Detroit Redwings games as I can, and I even watch the 0-16 Lions.

I'm very cynical about politicians, and leadership in general, and earned the label of being disrespectful towards authority in grade school. The Dylan line that goes "Don't Follow Leaders, and watch the parking meters" resonates very strongly with me.

Excuse me excuse me, old vet comin' through (not at all, really)....Hi I'm Judd Stephens. Originally from Indiana, moved to South Carolina for the last 8 years, and now moving to Colorado in just a few days. To the average person on the street I'm a regular ambient aficionado but in here, I'm pretty much a novice. Basically I'm a modest fan with a modest collection of music, who enjoys ambient and finds the people who create it, interesting. I'm a Massage Therapist, I also do Reiki and other similar therapeutic modalities... although I use some music in sessions, I knew about this music long before I decided to become a "therapist".

While still in high school, around 1990 I stumbled across a couple radio shows on the public radio station WVXU from Cincinnati (Xavier University originally, then expanded). Their local Sunday evening show "Soundscapes", followed by some national broadcast show called "Echoes" slowly became a ritual for me, as a 10th grader... yeah I was a little deprived I would record the shows on cassette and then make playlists of what I heard based on the DJ... naturally what followed was purchasing some of the music. My 1st cassette tape if I remember right was the Hearts of Space Universe Sampler from '90. I was getting pretty hooked by then.

I like to practice Qigong (it's a Chinese form of exercise), play Ultimate Frisbee (though I'm 35 now and at a bit of a crossroads), I'm still newly married of 8 months to my wife from Peru. The 5 years of Spanish from public schooling has paid off , but I've got a lot to learn about real Castillian, or Spanish. Another fun thing to do is hike and take some photos, and the 2 years spent working in Yellowstone NP turned me on to that. Here at the forum I enjoy reading most of the posts from people more knowledgeable, regardless of the topic, and will gladly submit what I know or toss in a joke and wonder about its reception. I'm also a mean editor of my own posts then copy'n paste it to hide the fact that I edited it, but hey what do you care...

Hello, I'm the other Forrest (not to confused with Forrest Houle). I'm a couple of years older than Mike with 70s progressive rock collection to prove it. My early interest in electronic music started with a class in college, which provided me with generous access to an Arp 2500, Arp 2600 and a Moog Mark V. I was also interested in minimalism, having really taken to the works of Steve Reich, Philip Glass and Terry Riley. In the late 80s and early 90s, my music took a little detour from EM when I studied the gu zheng (Chinese zither), started playing gagaku (Japanese court music) with a local group of Asian musicians on an oboe-like instrument called the hichiriki, and took a workshop on Balinese gamelan in the Bay Area. I returned to EM in earnest in the late 90s when I discovered algorithmic music and, in particular, fractal music. My current music is probably still a mixture of these different influences. In my other life, I am a Bay Area lawyer.